>> marques: good opportunity for tyler honeycutt. >> steve: trying to post up. dragovic. air ball. >> marques: dragovic keeps the bruins close, maintaining contact. down seven points. >> steve: ucla with the man defense. lee on collins. johnson misses and a good rebound for kansas and a putback. this is a career high, 12 points.

>> mike: back at pauley pavilion number one kansas leading ucla, 52-43. michael eaves back with you. steve and marques were talking earlier. reeves nelson is a ben howland kind of player. we've seen it so far in this game. of his eight rebounds six have been offensive. being scrappy down low. battling cole aldrich, the

morris twins. really being the defensive, pretty kind of player ben howland was when he was in high school and college. but on this play, coming up, being scrappy. being tough. he takes one to the eye. the ball goes in. they've been working on him in the time-out ever since. he does have a slight scratch just below his right eye but the real problem is and marques says this, his eye is really swelling up. they put some ice on it. trying to get the swelling to go down. the trainers were having him follow a finger to make sure he could see through that swelling. they're still not certain if he's going to be able to play. he wants to play. trying to talk them into it. but the trainers and doctors are being very careful that he doesn't go back out there in a condition where he can get hurt even worse. >> steve: that's ben lounhowlan style. we asked him yesterday what he wanted to see from ucla. he said great passion and intensity and play with pride in the four letters on your jersey and nelson gave that to him. that's why he'll see a lot of minutes. here's honeycutt on the drive. >> marques: for the most part

this team except for the start of the game when they got a little turnover happy they've had position and a lot of passion and pride. just going up against the number one ball club in the country, kansas. it's showing why they are number one. >> steve: tyler honeycutt, their top recruit. missed a whole summer because of a back injury. then a stress injury to his chin. he is actually wearing a brace around his back and then of course one on the right shin. you were telling me he was like 61 inches tall as a junior in high school and now he is 6'8" or 6'9". >> marques: actually a little young younger, freshman, sophomore, plald a lot of point guard and then a couple years in high school, gets up to 6'7", 6'8". that's why he was such a good ball handler, plays like a little guy in a 6'7" body. >> steve: the assistant coach says a lot of his first reaction

is because he was a star in two sports, basketball and volleyball so he never really got a rest and was able to do that this summer. they expect him to play quality minutes near the second half. >> marques: trying to defend a much quicker sherron collins and then j'mison morgan there on the rotation in college basketball. if he's anywhere near the mid area he's going to get the block call or the no call. >> steve: collins misses the first. he is five points shy of wilt chamberlain's kansas record of 21st in the all-time charts. of course danny manning is the all-time leading scorer in his career in a single season. collins misses both.

>> marques: they like this matchup, kansas does. morris inside against dragovic. >> steve: danny manning, national champion. >> marques: danny the miracle. >> steve: you got that right. he was hit and they had a great team. it was danny the superstar surrounded by guys who would sacrifice and get themselves up for the good of the jayhawks in order to win that championship. >> marques: and coached by larry brown. >> steve: five national titles. jayhawks were talking about the practice facility, $50 million that really helped things and ucla has raised enough money to improve pauley pavilion and get a new practice facility and weight rooms. >> marques: that's what you have to do in college basketball

these days. we were down in tempe at arizona state, $25 million facility that was just oh, so impressive. >> steve: there's morris again and he is fouled. his rebounding has been key to kansas' nine-point lead. >> marques: marques morris, cole aldrich, they're just out muscling, intimidating. not so much intimidating but out muscling and using their strength advantage on the inside against tyler honeycutt and j'mison morgan and nikola dragovic of ucla. >> steve: morris doing it all. a career high 16 points, dragovic, he'll come out for the bruins.

looks be damned. get me back in the game! >> marques: those are some of the nastier goggles i think i've seen but whatever it takes to get back on the floor. i expect he will be back out here goggles and all. you're not going to keep him out of the game. >> steve: morgan off the leg of cole aldrich, out of bounds. nelson has a cut near the right eye. right now they'll head back to the locker room it looks like to get it straightened out. kansas comes up with it. xavier henry. loses it. morgan with the steal. >> marques: going to the basket with his trademark long jump shot.

>> steve: morgan over the back of aldrich. no foul called. he knocks it out of bounds. dragovic can come back in. >> marques: nice defense on the inside. nelson on the bench. here he comes. >> steve: in on dragovic. really a mismatch. >> marques: nikola dragovic, you got to battle harder than that. you get a foul. get your body into the offensive player to keep him from getting to the basket that easily. where is that defense?

nonexistent for ucla on that possession. >> steve: they hit the end line. it will be bruin basketball. >> marques: he wants to get into this game oh, so badly. got the trainer up high, low, to the left, to the right. >> steve: i like the glasses. >> marques: oh, yeah. whatever it takes. >> steve: 57-46, kansas with the lead, the number one team in the nation at pauley pavilion. dragovic with the air ball.

>> marques: nothing but net. just not even close to the rim. >> steve: is he a -- at 6'9", it's a power forward height but he plays more of a three both offensively and defensively. hesitation to respond? >> marques: defensively he's a 4. >> steve: down low. >> marques: you got to battle not so much after the basketball, gout to battle more from establishing that great inside position to get the catch in the first place. please that's where that toughness, mental toughness comes into play. >> steve: he's been getting incredible low post positions. this is a guy who missed his first shot this year and then made 15.

got a chance. a 20-point game. >> marques: it's an 11-point game now. kansas' favor. >> steve: rebound, throws it back out. >> marques: an important stretch for ucla. a bit out of sync offensively and kansas, again, they're just going to keep coming and putting pressure on. making plays, physical plays, knocking down shots. you got to do better than matches. you got to stop them at some point. right now offensively can you get something going against ucla. >> steve: kansas with the biggest lead at 14. inside, eight minutes to go at pauley pavilion. very impressive. the top five teams in the country are all -- kansas, texas, villanova, purdue,

kentucky. aldrich, knocked away. dragovic came from the weak side to help out. >> marques: nice activity in front with nikola dragovic to get the blocked shot. >> steve: time-out on the floor. 7:30 left. ku looking like a number one team. boss: ah! thank goodness you're back. gecko: what's going on, sir? boss: we're slammed. tons of people interested in all the money they could be saving by switching to geico.. gecko: yeah, 'course. boss: boy, did we miss you last week. that temp wasn't working out at all. exec: took me all morning but i got those quarterly figures for ... you. (hissingoise, gulping) gecko: aw, he ate all my mints. anncr: geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

when you're in l.a. the stars come out to watch the big games in cuba gooding junior. help me help you. great star for the bruins. >> marques: no rebounds, no rings. >> steve: and the lakers owner and the clippers general manager. your comment? >> marques: just for one year. we'll get him back. just for one year. >> steve: do you believe that shot he made the other day? unbelievable. >> marques: one foot running. game tying, game-winner. >> steve: he wheels it in. michael roll will be at the free-throw line. he's the senior. >> marques: we need it going on out here. michael roll is a candidate for that. nikola dragovic also.

talking about reeves nelson back on the floor, our outstanding stat guy, great stat. when nelson was out for the six-minute stretch, ten straight second chance points for the kansas jayhawks. that's where ucla really missed the inside presence of the freshman as we focused on at the start with tyler honeycutt, freshman reeves nelson making an impact. >> steve: he's a bull. almost a steal. picked up by ku. taylor. got it. >> marques: that was a three ball. jerime anderson has to get on the floor, make the dive, keep the ball. just play that possession. way too cavalier and kansas comes up with a score. >> steve: malcolm lee. >> marques: malcolm lee, another guy that just hasn't been a presence in this game.

especially with the talent and the offensive skills that he possesses. you've got to play the entire game. >> steve: he has moved also from the two to a one, anderson on the sideline. that was out of bounds to ucla with the bruins trailing by 11. 6:1209 play. the bruins very young. i mean, ben howland has three seniors, one walk-on junior, three sophomores, and five freshmen. the least experienced team he's ever had. he teaches defense. fans, have you to be patient because it is a tough defense to execute perfectly. freshmen and sophomores usually aren't that successful. i still think come conference time this league is down a little bit, it's wide open. >> marques: yeah.

you look at the pac-10, big 12 challenge, pac-10 down 6-2 so far and a bad loss to oregon getting blown by missouri. you're right. down a bit. my point is it's up for grabs. whoever comes out and scraps and wants it the most has the opportunity to finish in the division. >> steve: aldrich -- a guy like reeves nelson as a freshman, best center in america. >> marques: hopefully he'll learn things at both ends of the floor, not only defensively but some tricks offensively that will help him as a player. >> steve: roll misses it. only has one field goal we just saw moments ago. collins on the drive. stopped from behind by jerime anderson. a held ball situation. so ucla will get it. >> marques: nice job. another creative way to get the basketball.

it allows cole aldrich to field his defensive player and the layup was the easy part. >> steve: nelson sits down. it'll be morgan, honeycutt. a foul. morris third. reeves nelson is going right to the locker room. that right eye. he is in some pain. >> marques: most impressive, gets back out there and gives it a shot. >> steve: i know you were talking about it being down this year but 21 players selected by the nba the last two years, 13 in the first round, more than any other who have

suffered those kinds of losses. that's why the big 12 has the endless challenge thus far, six victories in two. kansas trying to take this win against ucla bruins at pauley pavilion. just 7 for 15 from the foul line. marcus morris. >> marques: right over the top of nikola dragovic on the outside. >> steve: dragovic in and out. aldrich grabs it. >> marques: i got a good friend of mine, he loves to say, don't panic. help is on the way. ucla, they've got josh smith in seattle who was highly recruited coming in next year. tyler lamb out of southern california, orange county coming in. watched him play the last couple

years. a couple good ones out there they're trying to get signed up. >> steve: lee misness the corner. honeycutt gets it back. misses. lee will pick it up. ucla has been recruiting one of the top point guards in america out of high school, ray mccollum in michigan and out of the junior college ranks, zeke jones out of missouri junior college. cole does everything. >> marques: he does. even though it's not a big offensive day for him, again, he doesn't mind as long as they win the basketball game. great defense. great hustle on the block of the attempted dunk by reeves nelson. he gets on the floor like ucla stars do and then nice job on

the inside. great position leading to the easy bucket. >> steve: kansas, one of many unbeaten teams. but they are on the top because of the two guys, collins and aldrich returned but the first five are all unbeaten. >> marques: purdue, their custom tough defense. kentucky has my favorite player in the country in john wahle running the point guard position for them as they beat north carolina by two yesterday. >> steve: duke has that one loss this year. >> marques: wisconsin. >> steve: yeah. yesterday kyle singler scored one he needed to. >> marques: talk about great point guards wisconsin has one in hughes. a nice job kind of putting the locks on john scheuer. >> steve: who's your top point guard collins will battle with this year? >> marques: again, john wahl from kentucky is just a freshman, out of raleigh, north carolina.

but watching him, especially in the early stages of the game against a very talented north carolina team, watching him take them apart, some of the stuff he was doing, people are saying he may be better than derick rose which is saying a lot, number one pick in the nba draft, derick rose of the chicago bulls. >> steve: defended by tyler honeycutt. >> marques: xavier henry is a good player. like him a lot. he could really use another year of college basketball to make him even better. >> steve: xavier -- maybe not. >> marques: maybe not. he's addressed that issue. a lot of people assume that's going to happen but do what's best for him, his family, the university.

kind of looking things over, evaluate the situation. >> steve: kansas has their biggest lead of the afternoon at 15. >> marques: talked about all the nba personnel in the stands this afternoon. mike dunleavy, mike dunnly, looking at guys like xavier henry, sherron collins, the senior. >> steve: eight seconds on the shot clock. here goes sherron collins. long. lee rebounds. nice save to morgan. xavier henry one of the most talented freshmen in america, hitting the three.

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>> steve: number one kansas trying to go 7-0 on the young season. time to look at our lexus playbook. >> marques: kansas doing it with defense. and just quick hands surrounding the basketball. a bucket at the other end. once again you get it inside. tyshawn taylor and crew will be there to test and bother you to no end. they've done a great job as they have all season long.

>> steve: the assistant coach talking with tyshawn taylor. his brother, ray, played with you at ucla. >> marques: yeah. great talent and great team mate here at ucla. was honored last night at the first filipino born player in the nba. had a nice function for him at the staples center before the game the clippers played. david greenwood, another team mate was there. lucius allen a former great. a couple championships here. good seeing him. >> steve: dragovic will leave. brendan lane. he wears number 21. i think what they'd like to do is maybe red shirt anthony

stover. he hasn't seen any action. >> marques: like mike moeser. watching him yesterday in practice. he'll be a good player. a little stronger. >> steve: aldrich misses. foul ball. cole will be at the free-throw line. >> marques: cole aldrich, just love his activity. again, not scoring, not having a big scoring day today. but he's active. going after shots. active attacking the glass. a terrific passer from the outside. coming into this game, averages about a turnover a game for as many plays as he makes. that's a solid number. >> steve: he affects the game in so many different ways as a good passer. watched him defensively. completely shut down the ucla presence inside. >> marques: that block of reeves nelson stuck. he contested the pass at the three-point line.

he was able to run back and block the dunk of reeves nelson on the inside. >> steve: seven points, 11 rebounds. 25 career double doubles. a triple double against dayton in the ncaa tournament. brendan lane loses it. good job by collins. 1:55 left. >> marques: kansas kind of dominating the conference the last five years. jordan hamilton, the terrific freshman player from los angeles, along with damion james. they're going to be tough. >> steve: no question. kansas had 11 votes and texas had the other one. >> marques: with a challenge like this you get a chance to see baylor who we saw the other

night against arizona state. they looked like a very solid basketball team. >> steve: he is so tough. i love his game. >> marques: yeah, yeah. he does it all. defensively he knocks you down. he's able to penetrate and finish on the inside. always been a good shooter. >> steve: roll. coming up next, we've got number three villanova against maryland. they are 7-0. >> marques: villanova, exceptional team. i like syracuse. wesley johnson is a horrific player, the transfer. you talk about tough, j'mison morgan thought about taking an offensive bow. >> steve: there's reeves nelson with that ice on his eye.

>> marques: there's more contact right there. >> steve: exactly. kansas university right now number one in the nation but there are a lot of unbeatens and this is a conference that has 1-2 with kansas and texas. who are the other teams that could challenge kansas for the national title? >> marques: well, take a look at reeves nelson. there's that eye. it looks like he is looking. he tried to be a gamer and come back in sporting the bright yellow goggles. that didn't work out for him. >> steve: uh-oh. >> marques: there is the eye. but talking about top teams, kentucky is one of those teams even though they're young at the point guard position. john wahl is doing a great job of just about everything. patrick patterson a big-time player. north carolina. they're going to be fine. >> steve: hunter comes out for a tip. knocked in by lee.

all 12 of his points in the second half. ucla seeing, perhaps, the future national champion. this is a team that simply has the skills to get it done. now ku will win today by a final of 73-61 and push their record to 7-0. >> marques: they just ran into a team that's number one in the country. a lot of talent. a lot of depth. a lot of strength on the inside. great play on the outside from their guard sherron colin and they come up with the 12-point loss. >> steve: ucla falls and it's our driven to perform. xavier henry. the freshman had a good game with 13 points.

well, this is one of those meetings, i mean, two great powers and college basketball history, ucla still leads the series, 10 over 5. >> marques: look. ucla lost to portland by 27 points. they come out of this game, you didn't know what the amount was going to be. they lose by 12. they played a tough branld of basketball and i think their coaching staff has to be pleased. as for bill self they came in, handled their business. now they continue to prepare for the tough big 12 season. >> steve: that's it from pauley where kansas beats ucla, 73-61. stay tuned. we've got the wooden classic doubleheader next week. for marques johnson and michael eaves i'm steve physioc. you have been watching the big 12 pac-10 hardwood series 12 pac-10 hardwood series presented by

i touched the ball before it went out, coach. team! alex. alex, good call.